Smart cards having electronic memories have been increasingly distributed for facilitating transactions (e.g., security access, authenticated identification, healthcare information storage, financial transfers, etc.) Generally, in order avoid misuse, a proprietary and centrally controlled system is fielded with a card issuing authority that stores healthcare information on a smart card for a healthcare insurer. Participating healthcare providers are provided the necessary access protocols, passwords, etc. in order to use these cards. The insured user of the healthcare smart card is limited to using the card as proof of insurance. While such conventional healthcare smart cards are successful to a degree in preventing fraud and to simplifying healthcare data transmission to a healthcare provider, such approaches prove wanting in addressing a number of situations.
For example, the user may prefer or be entitled to utilize a healthcare provider who lacks the proprietary infrastructure in order to access or write to a conventional healthcare smart card. However, it would be beneficial to capture information associated with such a visit so that the user's healthcare records are complete. Unfortunately, flexibility in interfacing to healthcare smart cards is apparently not deemed practical. In particular, ownership of such data as well as legal restrictions on allowable access can be complicated.
As another example, with increasing functionality of smart card technology, an opportunity is presented to seamlessly maintain a wider array of healthcare information without the detriments of traditional paper medical files. However, the types of such information that is appropriate for any given party (e.g., insurer, healthcare specialist, general physician, first responder, etc.), is generally not the entire medical file for a user. Apprehensiveness of loss of privacy can thwart acceptance of such smart card technology.
Moreover, reliance upon a healthcare smart card in lieu of a plurality of healthcare paper files or separate databases is complicated by needs for ready access in urgent care situations while preserving data integrity and backup for archival purposes.